Ranger in a Strange Land
by Chelley Murdock
Summary: Bishop finds himself in Skyrim after the events of Crossroads Keep and has to start over with no one by his side. Three years later chance reunites him with his only friend and also puts him in the path of yet another hero. Heavily inspired by the Skyrim Romance Mod


"Well, someone is in a good mood." Dathúil smiled down at the wolf trotting at her side. The impressive canine wagged his tail in a fashion more akin to a domesticated dog than a fierce predator of the wild. "Looking forward to getting back to Lakeview so Rayya can spoil you even more than I do already?"

Handsome gave a chuff in answer. She used to think she was just imagining that he understood her. The past three years had convinced her that he actually did. The wolf was scary smart.

"I suppose you think we're just going to laze about so you can get fat and soft. Don't count on it. With winter approaching we have a lot of prep work to do. You're going to help this year." She accented that by wagging a finger in his direction. He didn't look overly concerned.

They continued walking on. She didn't take a horse when Handsome came along, not wanting to overtax the wolf. Not to mention it made it harder to have a conversation with him. True, it was usually a one sided conversation, but he made for good company.

The wind shifted and she stopped when she noted the sudden shift in his body language. The wolf sniffed the air curiously, his tail going perfectly still.

"What is it, Handsome?"

The wolf gave a single, half-finished bark before heading off the road. The past three years also taught her to trust the his instincts. She pulled her bow from her back and nocked an arrow, following him into the trees.

He stopped every once in a while to sniff the ground to confirm the scent. They moved on silent feet and paws until they came to a cave with a dead sentry outside. Handsome went in before Dathúil could stop him.

They found two more dead bodies within ten feet of the entrance, then another one lying next to a makeshift alchemy table. From the amount and type of loot in the hideout, she was guessing bandit camp. One that someone had taken out, or given the noise she heard coming from further in, was in the process of taking out.

Handsome broke into a lope, leaving her to play catch up. Knees kept slightly bent so as to allow movement with a minimum of bounce in her upper body, she followed. A bit further in she caught a familiar scent of stale air and decay. "Aw, damn it." When she rounded the corner of the cave she saw that someone had chipped their way thru the rock and into an old Nord tomb.

"Wonderful. What a perfect way to end a trip." She braced herself and went in, following Handsome's snarls.

She stepped over another five bodies, two of them part of the bandits and three draugar, indicated by their armor and weapons. She couldn't call out to the wolf in case there were more of the undead around to hear, so instead she moved as quietly as possible, making a quick visual sweep of each chamber as she came across them. Quick footsteps drew her attention forward and a man rounded the corner, face white with fear. He saw her and raised his axe, running towards her with a battle cry only to be put down by an arrow to the throat.

Nocking another one, Dathúil continued on, her ears straining to make sense of the sounds echoing off the labyrinthian walls. The sounds of fighting became louder and more recognizeable as she moved, and as she rounded another bend, she finally caught up with her wolf friend.

Handsome was fighting along side a Nord male in leathers with the same skill and ease he had with her. There was another person, a magic user dressed in the same hodge podge gear as the bandits there as well though their body language did not seem like that of two people fighting together so much as two people who just happened to be fighting the same enemy. In this case, the draugar who kept coming out of the various burial rooms about ten feet below.

From her higher vantage point she had a good place from which she could pick some of the attackers. She pulled a smaller soul gem from her belt pouch and applied it to her bow to make sure she didn't run out of magic. The fire enchantment was idea for undead. And trolls, but she wasn't aiming at trolls at the moment. Given how easily the stranger and Handsome worked together, she concentrated on taking out the draugar moving in from the outside. The bandit was using flame spells but not very effectively until the stranger gave him a kick sideways so he landed into one of those oil slicks that seemed to be found in these old tombs, sending the mage and a group of four draugar up in flames. She had to give him credit for ingenuity in taking care of two problems at once.

Between the three of them the were able to make short work of the remaining draugar. Like her, he didn't relax until he had rechecked the area, though the wolf leaning into his side was something of a distraction. Dathúil watched as he dropped to one knee and ruffed up Handsome's fur.

"Hey you mutt. Where the hell have you been? I thought you were dead." The stranger wrapped his arms around the wolf's neck briefly and when he pulled back she could see a glistening in his eyes that was a tell tale sign of them tearing up. Men could be silly about such things, though, so she thought it best not to avoid mentioning it as she came down the short set of stone steps to their level.

"Friend of yours, Handsome?"

The man looked up, eyes quickly assessing. "You could say that. We've been together since we were young."

That was adorable. It really was. "Actually, I was talking to the wolf." She couldn't keep back the amused smirk that touched her lips at the arched brow he sent her way. "I'm Dathúil."

"Bishop." He gave the wolf a couple of rough pats to the shoulder. "Were did you find him?"

"In a bandit cave out in the Rift about three years back. The Jarl asked me to take out a skooma operation they were running. Turns out they also had a pit fighting setup using wolves. They hadn't started fighting your friend here, I don't think he was cooperating. I knew he had to belong to someone, he's too good at working with a person not to, but I figured they'd killed you to get him."

"No. We got separated and I wasn't able to find his trail." He stood up, the wolf leaning against his side in contented companionship. "Looks like you've taken good care of him."

"We've taken good care of one another." She looked around, ignoring the sharp pain of loss in her heart. "Am I to take it that the tomb wasn't part of the plan?"

He rolled his eyes. "Hardly. This was a bounty out of Falkreath. It was supposed to be a simple bandit camp, but these idiots managed to dig into this place."

"That sounds familiar. There are a lot of fools in Skyrim these days." She looked back at the wolf, her smile a bit sad. She would miss him. "You said Falkreath, right? We were on our way to my house. It's maybe a mile outside of there. You're welcome to come with and rest up. Repair your gear and get a decent meal in your belly. Tekla won't be up by the time you get there if you continue on. Besides, it'll let me hold off on having to say goodby to Handsome here."

"Handsome?" He looked as though he wasn't sure if he should be amused or not. She just shrugged.

"It's not like he could tell me his name. And he's an excellent specimen of a wolf."

He settled on being amused. "You keep calling him that and it's going to make him impossible to live with." He started towards the burnt up body of the mage. "Let's see what I can salvage from this place and head out, then."

Dathúil nodded and turned to start helping with the search. It was only thanks to the odd acoustics of the tomb that she overheard Bishop talking to the wolf.

"So that's where you've been for the past three years? Well, if you learned nothing else from me, at least you learned good taste in wenches."


End file.
